So, the modern console FPS controls were introduced in Turok and Goldeneye.

nkarafo

Member
Most younger and casual gamers will say it was Halo (2001). But Halo only fine-tuned it to it's "final form".

The more informant ones will say Alien Resurrection on the PS1 (1999). But that was just the first game that used a dual analog scheme as the default. It wasn't the first game that used it though.

In reality, modern FPS controls were invented by either Turok or Goldeneye (both in 1997).

Turok was the first console FPS game that had movement/strafe + aiming/turn in the configuration we know today. All FPS games before Turok would have their strafe buttons on the shoulders and looking up/down on some other face buttons that were a pain to use. Turok's control scheme is the exact same one we use today, especially if you hold the controller from the left side to use the D-pad (which is something 99% of N64 users never tried). The idea was to simulate the keyboard and mouse of PC FPS games. The only difference compared to actual modern controls is that movement is not analog.

Goldeneye came after Turok and also had this scheme, though not by default. Which is why most people will claim it's controls have "aged badly" (the default controls are very different) which is simply a case of not trying the 1.2 solitare option:

2q0kort.jpeg


And again, by holding the N64 controller from the left side, you get movement on your left and aiming on your right, just like modern games do. You also have aim with your left index and shoot with your right (again, like today). Only issue is the A+B buttons (for use/reload) are more distant compared to modern controllers but they are still easily reachable.

But what really makes Goldeneye special is that it was the first FPS console game that had actual dual analog controls, using two analog sticks, two years before Alien Resurrection. The catch is you had to use two controllers and hold them like the joycons on Switch:

IeScXei.jpeg


This works better than it looks.

Anyway, i was aware of all these things back in 1997, because i was used on PC FPS games and wanted something similar on console. And when dual analog controllers became standard i was already at home, i didn't have to learn or re-wire my brain to play FPS games on them. Because i already did play them this way.

If you didn't know all that, try it on your old N64 using your old N64 controllers. It will probably feel weird how you could play it just like the remastered re-releases but it was always there from the beginning.
 
Last edited:
Yep, the two stick scheme was invented by goldeneye, it was halo 1 that popularized and refined that control scheme and established it as the standard control scheme for console shooters, alien was criticized for its "bad control scheme" at the time.
 
Not FPS but Fur Fighters & MDK2 on Dreamcast stood out to me they felt so much different from what I was used to before.
 
Yep I've been saying this for years. Everyone gives credit to Halo and Aliens but it was really GoldenEye that pioneered dual analog controls for movement and aiming. It was glorious.
 
Always played Goldeneye with the stick and the c-buttons. Pretty cool to see that the modern controls layout was already there.
 
But two N64 controllers had two.



jeff bridges opinion GIF




Dunno, the Saturn 3D pad doesn't look like it can simulate a control scheme that's similar to the modern hold

image_6b6476d9-8b46-4e79-9343-bed2a32035f1_grande.jpg
The saturn pad was limited but you used the face buttons to move and the analogue stick to aim, I assume the triggers were used to shoot.
 
Once I discovered the Goldeneye 2 stick configuration, I was hooked. Holding 2 controllers felt natural to me. However I got used to the head controls and body controls being on opposite side to the modern setup and that took a while to adjust to on newer games
 
Yeah! I was a PC FPS player back then and was a Quake fiend online. When I got the N64 and Goldeneye I used 2 controllers and it was immediately natural for me. Lots of deathmatch fun with my flatmates at that time. Ah fuck! The nostalgia!
 
Yeah! I was a PC FPS player back then and was a Quake fiend online. When I got the N64 and Goldeneye I used 2 controllers and it was immediately natural for me. Lots of deathmatch fun with my flatmates at that time. Ah fuck! The nostalgia!

Wait Wait Wait! You could use 2 controllers to play Goldeneye?

Damn & now the middle grip makes more sense.
 
Duke Nukem Saturn version had a cheat you could input that let you use something like analogue controls in 1997. Used the Saturn analogue for moving viewport and the ABXY buttons for movement and strafe, triggers for guns and jump, dpad for item and weapon switch afaik.

what a good port that was.

/old
 
Imagine leaving out Doom 32X. That game marked the end of my original foray into gaming. Starting on C64 and ending with the crushing disappointment of getting a 32X. I returned after high school to purchase a Dreamcast only to get hooked again. But man, that "console" almost freed me from this addiction. Damn you Gaben.
 
yup, nearly all N64 shooters support a form of modern-esque controls.



I tested and ranked all of them depending on how modern-esque they are
 
Last edited:
For a lot of regions outside of USA and UK N64 wasn't even a blip on the radar.

So from my point of view really influentual and genre-defining console FPS controls were introduced in Halo. Hardly anything changed ever since then and most modern games use the same philosophies of soft auto aiming, acceleration and othe stuff.

I've actually tried to play Golden Eye on emulator the other day and it was borderline unplayable for the choom, who missed it back in the N64 glory days.
 
Last edited:
Maybe GoldenEye invented them but Halo 1 was the game that popularized them. And then CoD4 is probably the game that "standardized" them.
 
Sooooo Glad that I got used to playing on controllers when I did.
I spent years keyboard and mouse, and it took me years to get comfortable with twin stick controllers.
Now I prefer sitting with my controller to being hunched over a mouse and keyboard.

Going to have to raise a toast to Turok and Goldeneye.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for making this video. That's exactly the kind of video i wanted to make for so long but i'm too lazy.

😑 relatable 🤣

I also just recently made a follow up where I lament over modern N64 replacement controllers not accommodating these controls 😩
 
Last edited:
😑 relatable 🤣

I also just recently made a follow up where I lament over modern N64 replacement controllers 😩

First thing i do when i see a topic or post about these third party "improved" controllers is reply with how they ruin FPS controls. I thought i was the only one.
 
Having some weird dual-controller setup is not nearly the same thing as the modern FPS setup. Those controllers were ridiculously built, and two of those would make the massive OG Xbox controller look tame by comparison. Sony was the first to release the dual analog controller which paved the way for Bungie to nail the FPS controls with Halo. I respect your opinion, OP. I just heavily disagree that Turok/Goldeneye should receive any credit for how FPS controls turned out.
 
Important note, Turok released 5 months before Golden Eye, nearly half a year ahead, it deserves more credit. People need to stop shafting my boy Tal'Set
 
First thing i do when i see a topic or post about these third party "improved" controllers is reply with how they ruin FPS controls. I thought i was the only one.

i known right?
IT'S THE HOME OF GOLDENEYE, TUROK AND PERFECT DARK!! how the fuck are all modern N64 controllers completely ignoring this? it's crazy...
 
Having some weird dual-controller setup is not nearly the same thing as the modern FPS setup. Those controllers were ridiculously built, and two of those would make the massive OG Xbox controller look tame by comparison. Sony was the first to release the dual analog controller which paved the way for Bungie to nail the FPS controls with Halo. I respect your opinion, OP. I just heavily disagree that Turok/Goldeneye should receive any credit for how FPS controls turned out.

you are wrong.

many N64 shooters also let you move with the Dpad while aiming with the stick. and games like Quake 64 play basically identically to a modern shooter.
the only difference being that your movement was on a dpad instead of a left stick, but that's hardly disqualifying them, as on a Mouse and Keyboard you also have digital movement
 
Last edited:
Having some weird dual-controller setup is not nearly the same thing as the modern FPS setup. Those controllers were ridiculously built, and two of those would make the massive OG Xbox controller look tame by comparison. Sony was the first to release the dual analog controller which paved the way for Bungie to nail the FPS controls with Halo. I respect your opinion, OP. I just heavily disagree that Turok/Goldeneye should receive any credit for how FPS controls turned out.
Still a two stick solution to play a FPS…They were the first ones in implement it. The two stick controllers is another topic.
 
Having some weird dual-controller setup is not nearly the same thing as the modern FPS setup. Those controllers were ridiculously built, and two of those would make the massive OG Xbox controller look tame by comparison. Sony was the first to release the dual analog controller which paved the way for Bungie to nail the FPS controls with Halo. I respect your opinion, OP. I just heavily disagree that Turok/Goldeneye should receive any credit for how FPS controls turned out.
Ignore the gimmick two control Golden Eye. Ignore the N64's retarded control. We are talking about button mapping here, not the quality, or comfortability of a controller. Take a look at what OP was talking about when it comes to button mapping, and tell us how that is that not what bungie was already doing with halo?
 
Game journalism was always laughable.

I'm reading some old mags for nostalgia and i can't believe some of the stuff we used to read.



Not sure about aim acceleration but Goldeneye had aim assist options.
Idk know man…most of us who were teens or older in that era thought it was strange at first too. It was brand new and felt awkward asf at first.
 
It seemed crazy at the time, and it wasn't an option if you wanted to do split-screen with more than 2 players. Way ahead of its time and laughed at for being ridiculous, but after a little getting used to it really worked well and just made sense. I still prefer M&K for shooters, but it made first person games on console a reality.
 
Top Bottom